


The Way You Love Me

by mysticmajestic



Series: The Way We Are [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 10:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14103135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysticmajestic/pseuds/mysticmajestic
Summary: During Lance's twenty-eighth birthday dinner, Shiro stands in front of the Martinez family and declares his love for Lance and how thankful he is that they've spent the past ten years together...and then he gets down on one knee to ask Lance the most important question of all.





	The Way You Love Me

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted fluff so I wrote fluff. I've been grinning like a loon since I started writing this because these two are SO CUTE.

The restaurant is a bit upscale than what Lance is used to. He and Shiro don’t usually do the whole ‘fine dining’ shindig, but since Lance’s immediate family have come over to California for the week to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday, they’d had to go way above their regular takeout joints.

 “Happy birthday, cariño,” Lance’s mother cries, throwing her arms around her youngest son’s neck—after having to stand on the tips of her toes to do so. She’s got more grey hairs than the last time Lance had seen her, and her face has a few more wrinkles. Seven months from now she’ll be sixty, after all. _Mierda_ , they’re all getting old.

They have a whole table reserved toward the back of the restaurant, capable of sitting twenty people, including the six baby chairs they’d requested for the numerous infants, comfortably. Lance would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Shiro made the reservations; the waiting staff are all watching them rather apprehensively as the Martinez family and Shiro kiss, hug, and get acquainted with each other once again before they take their seats.

Dinner is a raucous affair. The waiters can hardly keep up with the demand. Lance eats his medium rare steak and talks about his kids from his job at a day-care with Papa, who throws his head back and laughs when Lance recounts the time one of the little three-year-old kids missed the toilet and coated the walls with pee (though in the kid’s defense, he was still being potty-trained).

Shiro and Lance’s sister Veronica are talking about the latest episode of a reality television show Veronica got him hooked onto.

When it’s time for the cake, Lance allows the little kids to clamber in close to blow out the candles for him. The only thing he wishes for when the candles are all out is another happy year with them all. He’ll wish for the same thing tomorrow night when he and Shiro celebrate with Hunk, Keith, Pidge, and Matt.

Just as the night is winding down and Lance starts thinking longingly of bed, the night takes a turn for the better.

Shiro stands and taps on his wine glass. “If I could have all of your attention, please? I promise this won’t take long.”

“Take it away, my boy,” says Papa. There’s a proud, knowing gleam in his eyes.

“Quiet, everyone!” Mama gasps, to Lance’s consternation. She flaps her hands at everyone, even though none of them are saying a word—bar the babble of the babies. “Quiet, quiet! Oh my gosh!”

“Lance,” says Shiro breathlessly. His beautiful grey eyes glitter with nerves as he pulls something from his back pocket. “First and foremost, I want to say happy twenty-eighth birthday. We’ve been together for ten long, happy years now. There’s nothing about you that I’d change. It’s been a privilege and an honour to stand by your side all these years.

“Back before I met you, I was miserable. I truly was. Caught up in the monotony of day to day life, all I could think about was going to work, meal preps, making sure I went to the gym at least five days a week. And maybe on the weekends I’d squeeze in some, uh, casual sex.” Shiro’s cheeks darkened as a titter rose up at the table. “Yeah, yeah, I was boring as hell. But after everything I went through in the military, including losing my arm,” he holds up his prosthesis, “I just couldn’t see the joy in living anymore.”

Tears sting Lance’s eyes. He raises a shaky hand to wipe them away, unable to look away from Shiro.

“Mama, what’s happening?” asks Rosie, Veronica’s youngest daughter.

“Shh, sweetie!” hisses Veronica. “Here’s your juice box. Drink it.”

Shiro goes to speak again, but the words get caught in his throat as tears drip down his cheeks. Covering his face with his hand, Shiro sobs, and around the table there’s the sound of blowing noses and whispered curse words as the unexpected emotional display drives them all to tears.

“C’mere, babe.” Lance’s stands, wraps an arm around Shiro’s waist.

Ten years ago, Shiro had been as untrusting and guarded as a person could get. It had taken months for Lance to work Shiro out of his shell, to get him to trust in Lance and believe that Lance was not going to leave, not for any reason. And that no matter how ugly Shiro had thought his prosthesis and scarred skin made him, he had always been and would always be beautiful in Lance’s eyes.

“I’m good, I’m good,” says Shiro finally, mopping the tears from his face.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure.” Shiro kisses Lance’s forehead, letting his lips linger for a few moments. “Gotta finish my speech, or I never will.”

Lance almost argues that Shiro doesn’t actually need to give a speech, but he sits back down anyway, words unspoken. If this is something Shiro feels the need to do, then Lance won’t stop him.

“Okay, sorry for that,” says Shiro, chuckling, voice still thick, “getting back to the speech…

“One day, life throws me a curveball in the form of a sassy eighteen-year-old college student at a bar one night. I was there drowning my sorrows once again, finding solace in the bottom of a beer bottle, halfway to drunk, and then  I hear this cheeky voice in my ear ask, ‘What’s up, cutie? Come here often?’”

“Yeah, that sounds like kind of first-liner our Lancey-Lance would use,” quips Marco. “Haven’t changed a bit, have you?”

Lance blushes. “Shut up.”

“Let Shiro finish!” Mama hisses. “Stop interrupting!”

 _What’s going on?_ Lance is starting to feel overwhelmed. He reaches up to grasp the sapphire pendant Shiro had gotten him for his twenty-fifth birthday. There's something more important to this speech, something he's not seeing. _What’s Shiro planning? Why do my parents know all about this except me?_

“I couldn’t have imagined what you’d do to me,” says Shiro. “Before I met you, I thought I was broken beyond repair. No one could possibly ever want someone like me. Nightmares every night, aversion to touch—at least for a while—and prone to having flashbacks at the drop of a hat? It’d take a saint to deal with me.

“But you were patient with me. Every time I yelled at you, pushed you away, you stayed right by my side. Through physical therapy, psychologist appointments, and four new jobs before I found one that stuck, you were right there. You are the most compassionate, giving, _loving_ person I have ever known. There’s nothing I can do to repay you for what you’ve done for me. Nothing I can say…except for one thing.”

And then Shiro gets down on one knee, opening a black box to unveil a sparkling silver ring.

“Lance Martinez,” he says hoarsely, “will you do me the honour of marrying me?”

The world itself seems to stop. Lance stares at the ring, at Shiro, unable to believe that it’s happening. This is actually happening. It’s not a dream, it’s not a wish. Shiro is right there, on one knee, asking the question Lance has dreamed of hearing since he was a child watching Disney movies long after he was supposed to be in bed.

“Lance?” Shiro asks. He glances nervously between the ring, Lance, and the rest of Lance’s family who watches with bated breath. Abruptly, Lance realises he’s been silent for nearly thirty seconds, leaving them all in suspense.  “What do you say?”

“Of course I’ll marry you!” Lance chokes out, throwing himself into Shiro’s arms. _I’m getting married,_ he thinks numbly, squeezing Shiro as tight as he can. “I will, I will, of course, I will!”

Gently pushing him back, Shiro makes a show of taking the ring from the box and holding it up for both of them to see. The ring glitters in the light and it’s the most beautiful thing Lance has ever seen—no, he thinks, beaming at Shiro who takes Lance’s right hand and slides the ring on. It’s the second most beautiful thing in the world. Nothing compares to Shiro.  

Mama screams and leaps out of her seat. “My baby is getting married!”

The table erupts into cheers as Shiro stands, hoisting Lance up with him. People from across the restaurant look over in curiosity. When they realise they’ve just played witness to a proposal, they grin and applaud. Someone—probably Luis—whistles loudly as Shiro captures Lance’s lips in a passionate kiss.

They quickly find themselves engulfed in hugs and congratulations. Mama demands photos to commemorate the engagement, and soon Lance’s cheeks hurt from grinning so much but he can’t stop. He’s never been happier.

 

* * *

 

Lying in bed, Lance holds his hand above his head to study the ring on his finger, enjoying the way it sparkles when he turns his hand this way and that. A horn blares outside, briefly drowning out the sound of Shiro’s shower in the en-suite bathroom. 

He still can’t believe Shiro popped the question. After all this time hoping, he hadn’t actually seen it coming. They’d never really talked about marriage before beyond mentioning that it was something they both wanted in their futures. Now it’s actually going to happen.

The bathroom door opens. “You’ve been staring at that ring for hours,” says Shiro, amused. He’s wearing only a towel around his waist, his hair dripping wet. “Not having second thoughts about it?”

“Definitely not,” says Lance. “I was just thinking.”

“Thinking about what?”

Lance smirks at him. “How I’m gonna have to start calling you Takashi instead of Shiro. I want to be Mr. Lance Shirogane. I can’t have anyone think I’m marrying a man called _Shiro Shirogane_ whenever I talk about you.”

“You—you want to take my last name?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ve only wanted to be Lance Shirogane for years now. I’m not gonna pass up the opportunity when—oof!”

Ripping off the towel, Shiro runs and jumps onto the bed. He scrambles on top of Lance and kisses him as if it’s the last kiss they’ll ever share. Lance massages his hands over every inch of bared flesh he can reach, eliciting pleased moans from Shiro’s lips until they break apart.

“I’d love that more than anything,” Shiro says. His stomach flutters as Lance's fingers brush over a ticklish spot. “Lance Shirogane…” He pecks Lance on the lips. “Sounds absolutely perfect.”

Lance wonders how badly their friends are gonna flip when they spot the ring on Lance’s finger tomorrow night. He can’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @mystic-majestic!  
> Please leave a comment telling me what you think!


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